INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS

							    CHAPTER EIGHT:
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND
    HUMAN RIGHTS
            Misrinah Misban
     Faculty of International Studies




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• Detailed Contents
• International Law
  – Sources of International Law
  – Enforcement of International Law
  – The Place of International Law
• Human Rights



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Sources of International Law
– Laws within states come from central
  authorities, legislature or dictators.
– Because states are sovereign and recognize
  no CENTRAL AUTHORITY, international law
  rests on a different basis.




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• Then, does international law come from?
• FOUR sources of international law are
  recognized:
  – Treaties
  – Custom
  – General principles of law (such as equity)
  – Legal scholarship (e.g. past judicial
    decisions).

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– Treaties
   • Treaties and other written conventions signed by states are
     the most important source.
– Custom
   • If states behave toward each other in a certain way for long
     enough, their behavior may become generally accepted
     practice with the status of law.
– General principles of law
   • Actions such as theft and assault recognized in most national
     legal systems as crimes tend to have the same meaning in
     an international context.
– Legal scholarship
   • The written arguments of judges and lawyers around the
     world on the issues in questions.


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• Enforcement of International Law
• International law is much more difficult to
  enforce.
• There is no world police force.
• Enforcement of international law depends
  on the power of states themselves,
  individually or collectively, to punish
  transgressors.
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• The Place of International Law
• DO YOU THINK THAT THE UNITED STATES
  SHOULD FOLLOW INTERNATIONAL LAW,
  EVEN WHEN IT LIMITS U.S ACTIONS IN THE
  WAR ON TERRORISM?
• OR, SINCE THERE IS NO WORLD
  GOVERNMENT HAVE A MORAL RIGHT AND
  DUTY TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO
  DESTROY TERRORISTS AND PROTECT THE
  U.S HOMELAND FROM CATASTROPHIC
  ATTACK, EVEN IF IT MEANS DISPENSING
  WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW?
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• Human Rights
            • WE WANTS OUR RIGHTS?




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• International norms concerning human
  rights conflict with the state sovereignty.
• Effort to promote human rights are
  routinely criticized by governments with
  poor human rights records.
• For examples China, Russia, Burma.
• NGO- Amnesty International

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• Thank you




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